On December 23, 2025, police commissioners and senior law enforcement officials across the United Kingdom announced a sweeping proposal to end the practice of recording non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), marking a dramatic shift in how police handle reports of hostility and prejudice that fall short of a criminal offense. The move, which has been described by many as long overdue, is set to reshape the relationship between policing, free speech, and community trust in the digital age.
NCHIs, for those unfamiliar, are incidents motivated by hostility or prejudice toward protected characteristics—such as race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation—that do not meet the legal bar for a crime. Despite not being criminal, these incidents have been logged by police since guidance was first issued in 2005, following the recommendations of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. The intention behind the policy was to monitor patterns of hate and prevent escalation to more serious harm. However, as the BBC reports, critics have long argued that the policy diverts police resources, chills free expression, and leaves a troubling mark on individuals’ records, sometimes surfacing in background checks for jobs or volunteer roles.
The College of Policing, the body responsible for setting professional standards in law enforcement, has played a central role in both the creation and now the dismantling of the NCHI system. Established in 2014 under then-Home Secretary Theresa May, the College has often been at the center of political debates over the direction of policing policy. Lord Herbert, its current chair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the rise of social media has forced police into “policing tweets”—a role officers neither want nor feel equipped to handle. “It was quite clear that the whole regime needed looking at, that there was a perception that the police were being drawn into matters that they shouldn’t have been,” Herbert explained. He called the new approach “sensible” and said it would “re-balance the system for the social media age.”
According to The Telegraph, the forthcoming review by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council will recommend that only the most serious category of anti-social behavior—those with a clear risk of escalation—be recorded. Everyday online disputes and remarks, which have formed the bulk of NCHIs in recent years, would no longer be logged. The Home Office, which will ultimately decide whether to adopt the recommendations, told the BBC that a “consistent, common-sense approach” is needed to protect the “fundamental right to free speech,” though it stopped short of pre-empting the review’s findings.
The scale of the issue is not trivial. As reported by the BBC, more than 133,000 NCHIs have been recorded by 43 police forces in England and Wales since 2014. The Metropolitan Police, the country’s largest force, announced in October 2025 that it would stop investigating NCHIs to focus on criminal investigations, a decision that followed a recommendation from the policing watchdog. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch echoed these sentiments in April, arguing that NCHIs “wasted police time chasing ideology and grievance instead of justice.”
The roots of NCHIs stretch back to the 1999 Macpherson Inquiry, which followed the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in London. The inquiry recommended that police should monitor behavior perceived as racist, even if it did not meet the threshold for criminality. Over time, this administrative solution evolved into a sprawling system that critics say has lost sight of its original intent. According to The Spectator, courts found NCHIs unlawful as far back as 2021, yet police forces largely ignored the ruling until now. The persistence of NCHIs, despite legal challenges, has been attributed to a combination of risk aversion, outdated legislation, and politicized police accountability structures.
Importantly, the criminalization of opinion on social media has often occurred under different laws entirely. The 1986 Public Order Act, originally intended to combat hard copy race-hate material distributed by neo-Nazi groups, is now used to prosecute tweets and online comments deemed to stir up racial hatred. Likewise, Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 criminalizes the sending of “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character” material over a public electronic communications network. In 2023, five former police officers received suspended prison sentences for sending racist jokes in a private WhatsApp group under this law. These high-profile cases, as The Spectator notes, were not NCHIs but rather direct applications of criminal law—raising further questions about the necessity and effectiveness of the NCHI framework.
Proponents of the policy change argue that ending the routine logging of non-crime hate incidents will free up valuable police resources, allowing officers to focus on the prevention and investigation of serious crimes. As MixVale reports, the current system has created significant administrative burdens, stretching departmental capacities without directly enhancing public safety. By narrowing the focus to genuine hate crimes—which carry enhanced penalties under the law—police hope to improve response times and investigative effectiveness. Reform’s policing adviser, speaking to GB News, summed up the mood of many in the law enforcement community: “Police streets, not tweets!”
Yet, the proposed overhaul is not without controversy. Civil liberties organizations and victim advocates have voiced concerns about the potential impact on monitoring hate-motivated behavior and the willingness of individuals to report non-criminal but still harmful acts. Communities that frequently experience prejudice rely on law enforcement to acknowledge all forms of hostile behavior, not just those that cross the criminal threshold. Police leadership acknowledges these concerns, emphasizing that while non-crime hate incidents may no longer be routinely recorded, the commitment to tackling all forms of prejudice remains steadfast. Rachel Swann, Vice-Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told the BBC: “It is not for policing to referee online debates on cultural issues. Protecting free speech and ensuring officers focus on real-world threat and risk is an important part of our considerations. But equally important is ensuring policing can continue to keep our communities safe, such as by spotting risks to vulnerable people, monitoring community tensions or identifying potential precursors to violence and other criminal behaviour.”
Implementing the new policy, if approved, will require a comprehensive revision of police handbooks and extensive training for officers at all levels. The goal, as outlined by senior officials, is to ensure a consistent understanding of the distinction between hate crimes and non-criminal hate incidents, and to maintain community trust during the transition. Public communication campaigns and collaboration with community leaders will be essential to reassure the public that genuine hate crimes remain a top priority for law enforcement.
This moment marks a pivotal re-evaluation of how a modern, democratic society balances the need to address hate with the imperative to safeguard free expression. As the review process unfolds and the Home Office prepares to make its final decision, the future of policing hate in the UK hangs in the balance—caught between the lessons of the past and the realities of a rapidly changing digital world.
